The present invention relates to the field of computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for verifying the integrity of digital objects transmitted between computer systems.
Advancing technology has created opportunities for near-instantaneous, global exchange of voluminous amounts of information and data. However, the lack of a secure medium for data transmission has created opportunities for fraud, deception, and theft through the manipulation of records. Individuals and businesses are using various encoding schemes to generate digital signatures to verify the integrity of digital objects transmitted. Digital signatures may be used to enable a party receiving a transmitted object to identify who sent an object and whether the object had been altered in route.
Digital signatures are created and verified by means of cryptography. A private key is used to create the digital signature and is kept in confidence by the object sender. A public key is used to verify the digital signature and is known to the object recipient. Digital signature creation is the process of computing a code derived from and unique to a transmitted object and a given private key. Digital signature verification is the process of checking the digital signature by reference to the original object and a public key and determining whether the digital signature was created for that same message using the private key. If a public and private key pair is associated with an identified signer, a digital signature created with the private key effectively identifies the signer with the message. The process of digitally signing also identifies the matter to be signed. Verification reveals tampering with the message, since processing the hash results discloses whether the message is the same as when signed.
A method for generating a signed manifest is disclosed. An object is referenced. A metadata name is recorded. A digest algorithm is recorded. An integrity value that belongs to the object that corresponds to the metadata subject name is digested with the digest algorithm.